Forget the limitations and enjoy the ride

The point of the Exige coupe is to give you a road car that is as close as possible to a racing car.

Tony Davis

Lotus Exige V6 coupe

Price
$119,990 (excluding on road costs) $137,420 (as tested)

Engine
3.5-litreV6 (petrol)

Power/torque
258kW/400Nm

Fuel economy
10.1L/100km (combined cycle)

CO2
236g/L

You can carp about the uncomfortable seats, the unholy racket from the engine and suspension, the distinct lack of storage in the cabin, the tiny boot tucked behind the engine and the bone-jarring ride.

Why stop there? There are so many more limitations and compromises.

But to complain is to miss the point. Lotus has never been at the leading edge of refinement or practicality.

The point of the Exige coupe is to give you a road car that is as close as possible to a racing car. When did race cars have decent boots, gloveboxes or soundproofing?

From the moment you climb over the high sill and duck under the low roof to somehow bend your way into the driver’s tight bucket seat, you sense Lotus has succeeded in its mission.

And then you turn on the engine and hit the accelerator and there is no doubt whatsoever.

This is excitement on wheels. Although the pricetag of $120,000 (plus on-road costs) is hardly bargain basement, to get anything else nearly as quick is going to cost many times more.

The Lotus – put together in a former British airbase known as RAF Hethel – will bullet to 100km/h in a claimed 3.9 seconds flat. The quickest Porsche 911 Carrera S, with all the official go-fast options, will take 4.1.

And that car costs upwards of a quarter of a mil. Of course in most departments (refinement, materials, technology and build quality) the Lotus is nowhere near the Porsche, and it has only two seats instead of the 911’s two-plus-two.

Then again, for the price of the Porsche you could have an Exige and a quality luxury sedan.

The basis of the Exige is the four-cylinder Lotus Elise, though the aluminium tub chassis has been widened and most of the fibreglass/composite body panels have been changed (only the doors remain the same).

It’s an aggressively styled amalgam of bulges, vents and ducts, and stands just 1.15 metres tall.

Power comes from a modified 3.5-litre Toyota V6, mounted amidships and force-fed by an Australian-built Harrop supercharger.

The power output is 257 kW and 400 Nm, which is healthy for any car, but particularly one that weighs less than 1200 kg (the Porsche is about 250 kg heavier).

The gearbox is an old-fashioned DIY six-speed, with close ratios.

There’s not much in the way of fancy technology or creature comforts. The few extras that were fitted to our car raised the price by more than $17,000.

The sound system has a tinny tone, though if you are driving hard, you’ll probably only hear it when you come to a stop. The seating position is low, the top of the windscreen is also low, giving a slightly claustrophobic interior.

The second seat doesn’t move, an example of Lotus founder Colin Chapman’s credo of “simplify and then add lightness”.

There is a wonderfully small, thick and tactile Momo leather steering wheel.

It’s perfect at speed but gives you even less leverage when parking (Power steering? Nah). In tight spaces you don’t want to move the steering wheel without doing a thorough warm-up first. This test pilot ended up with very sore shoulder muscles.

There’s also plenty of vibration coming through this steering wheel on typical suburban roads.

Its sound is a disappointment. It makes more of a whoosh than a growl. Did I mention it is quick, though? Wow! The acceleration can leave you short of breath.

The handling is great by most standards, if not quite as sublime as that of the beautifully balanced Elise, with its lighter engine. There is a tendency for the Exige’s nose to push on if you apply any of that riotous acceleration before the front wheels are straight.

Whack it into “race” mode and you can produce drama in any situation and pretty well any gear. The software will apparently “learn” a racing track, providing the right amount of assistance at the right moments.

When you are not too busy watching the world rushing towards you at a great rate, it’s nice to just move your eyes around the car: the view is reminiscent of a full-on sports racer. Your rear view is over the top of the engine, with the matt black supercharger atop. You see the pronounced rear flanks in the side mirrors; through the windscreen, the nose dips low in the middle, accentuating the raised bodywork over each wheel.

The cabin is basic, though nicely finished with sections of exposed aluminium. There are still traces of “kit car” in the finishes of some surfaces.

When stones get thrown up under the car it feels pretty personal; there isn’t a lot of insulation and the cabin becomes an echo chamber.

The Lotus Exige S is so direct and immediate and visceral, there’s nothing quite like it. There are times when you might feel thoroughly worn out from manhandling (or womanhandling) the steering wheel while being thrown around and having your ears assaulted.

Then again, when you hop back into a normal, comfortable car and throw it into a corner, you’ll feel like you’re driving the school bus.